rhyeking 17.10.2010 23:39 |
For some this might be a re-hash, but I've been trying to do a bit of research into the making of the Made In Heaven album. Based on interviews I've read and heard, comments made by the band and others involved in Queen Productions, plus taking into account Brian and Roger touring in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995, this is what I've come up with: In 1993, Roger and John started tinkering with the post-Innuendo tracks, but didn't get very far until Brian joined them in early 1994, after finishing the Back To The Light Tour. Roger was finishing his Happiness? album at this point too, so he either worked on both at the same time or there was a window after finishing H? and starting MIH in earnest with BM and JD. A 1998 Times interview says Brian spent 18 months working on MIH, which fits the timeline (Jan. 1994 to June 1995, approx.) It wasn't just a matter recording new backing tracks, but editing Freddie's vocals. It's also extremely unlikely that the three of them were together in the studio the entire time working. The latter 3rd of 1994 (till the end of Jan. 1995) had Roger on tour for Happiness?. It's A Beautiful Day Freddie's Vocal & Piano recorded either 1979 or 1980 during The Game sessions. Made In Heaven Freddie's Vocal recorded the summer of 1984 Let Me Live Freddie's Vocal recorded post-Innuendo 1991 (?) Remixed in the fall of 1995, after the promo release of the album, to remove part of the chorus vocal (possibly because of it's similarity to the cover version of "Piece Of My Heart" by Big Brother And The Holding Company, but not having heard the original version, or knowing if the writers Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns would have any issue with a similarity in a line given how many similar lines appear in songs). Mother Love Freddie's Vocal recorded post-Innuendo 1991 (possibly the last FM vocal recorded) My Life Has Been Saved Freddie's Vocal recorded 1988 during The Miracle sessions I Was Born To Love You Freddie's Vocal recorded May 25th, 1984 for the Mr. Bad Guy sessions "...It's magic!" line recorded in early 1986 for "A Kind Of Magic" "I get so lonely..." line recorded the summer of 1985 for "Living On My Own" Heaven For Everyone Freddie's Vocal recorded between June and September 1987 Too Much Love Will Kill You Recorded entirely in 1988 during The Miracle sessions (according to David Richards) You Don't Fool Me Freddie's Vocal "snippets" recorded post-Innuendo 1991 Assembled spring or summer of 1995 by David Richards before being completed by BM, RT and JD. Notably features some of choral vocals from "A Winter's Tale". A Winter's Tale Freddie's Vocal recorded post-Innuendo 1991 (one of the last songs he recorded; last song he wrote) It's A Beautiful Day (Reprise) "Yeah" recorded 1981 or 1982 for "Action This Day" Ambient section mixed by David Richards, spring or summer of 1995, seemingly the last part of MIH recorded for the album In one interview, David Richards says they recorded 4 tracks after Innuendo. He then corrects himself and says it was 5. It appears his original recollection was more accurate, unless I'm missing something (and I probably am, somewhere). Thoughts...? |
Atilla 18.10.2010 03:59 |
I heard, Let Me Live was recorded around 1983 (Freddie's voice told that too) and it was a duett with Rod Stewart during a fun-session between them. |
emrabt 18.10.2010 04:46 |
I heard, Let Me Live was recorded around 1983 (Freddie's voice told that too) and it was a duett with Rod Stewart during a fun-session between them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Then worked on again in 1985 for the works, I think "another little piece of my heart" is on the handwritten track listing. could be another song though. |
Vali 18.10.2010 05:25 |
rhyeking wrote: Let Me Live Freddie's Vocal recorded post-Innuendo 1991 (?) /////////////////////////// Have my doubts on that, as never read anywhere Freddie's vocals where recorded post-Innuendo. In fact, have just checked Sebastian's site and it goes like this: link "... Let Me Live was originally called Take Another Little Piece of My Heart, written for The Works album (in fact, it was supposed to be the sixth track, sandwiched between Man on Fire and It's a Hard Life) and demo'd with Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck in Los Angeles. Unofficially, it's been reported that all that was recorded then was a minute-and-a-half demo, which contained Freddie's verse and chorus. For the 1995 version, the remaining band members rescued it and turned it into a full-length song by adding two more verses (sung by Roger and Brian), a middle-eight and a break." |
rhyeking 18.10.2010 08:11 |
I wasn't certain whether the vocal take used was from The Works era. It seems to be the case, given the conclusion drawn on the BD site. I always wasn't certain if it was a post-Innuendo recording, hence the "?" next to it. Thanks. |
Sebastian 18.10.2010 08:28 |
It's A Beautiful Day: AFAIK, it was part of the 1980 sessions (the ones that spawned Play the Game and others) not the 1979 ones (Crazy Little Thing, Save Me, Sail Away Sweet Sister and Coming Soon). Made In Heaven: Freddie's vocal and piano recorded in May 1984. Let Me Live: 2nd September 1983 (IIRC). Mother Love: May to October 1991. My Life Has Been Saved: 1988 indeed. I Was Born To Love You: Fred not only recorded vocals, but also piano. "...It's magic!" line recorded in early 1986 for "A Kind Of Magic": Most likely, it was recorded in late 1985 (as they were working for 'Highlander' at The Townhouse and it was mostly finished by the end of the year). Living on My Own was recorded between April and May 1984, so it was technically spring. Heaven For Everyone: AFAIK, Shove It sessions were from August to December 1987. Too Much Love Will Kill You: Have you got the exact quote of what David said? A Winter's Tale: May to October 1991. |
rhyeking 18.10.2010 10:10 |
Re: Too Much Love Will Kill You From Rolling Stone (Germany), Dec. 1995 issue, interview with David Richards (thanks to Queen Archives.com) *** Q: Was modern technology elementary to finish the album? or would it have been possible to complete the album also 10 years ago? DR: Absolutely! Technology offers us the possibility to arrange songs new, but in this case we didn't arrange the songs new, so the recordings could have been done just as well ten years back with an analog recording machine. In fact "Too Much Love" was recorded on an analog recording machine. Brian wrote the song at a time when we were still using those machines, Freddie recorded it, cause he liked the song very much, but the track was never used, so " Too Much Love.." ended up on Brian's solo album. It's interesting to compare that one analog song to all the other digital MIH songs. The clearness in the analog recording is remarkable. It always takes us some time till we see where new technology takes us. We follow every technological revolution without knowing where it's heading. Q. What does the band think about analog/digital recording? DR: Roger called me yesterday, because I did an edit of "Too Much Love..." for a release in the USA. He asked: "what did you do with that remix? it sounds AMAZING!" I told him it was maybe because it was an analog recorded song that gave that amazing impression. *** He notes several times that TMLWKY was an analogue recording, speaking about the entire track. I took this to mean it was basically Queen's original 1988 Miracle sessions recording, with little else added to it. To my ear (though I'm not a musician or a music expert, though I have experience and training in audio production) this is supported by the short Queen demo version leaked a while back and the Bell Boy Tape recordings, all of which use a similar arrangement for the backing track, notably the piano sound. On a side note, as I said I've been reading a lot of these interviews and articles lately and it's amazingly frustrating how close the interviewees get to revealing what is for me the truly useful information, then go off on a different direction or dumb-down the response for the general public. If only DR above had gone a step further and said exactly when TMLWKY was recorded and whether all of it was used. What I wouldn't give for the opportunity to just sit down with BM, RT, JD and DR and just get all the details I'd love to know! I feel like an archaeologist, digging through scraps of information. |
Sebastian 18.10.2010 10:18 |
Sure, but the quote in question does NOT mention the year 1988 or 'The Miracle' sessions per se. It could've been done in a post-Magic pre-Miracle era, for instance. AFAIK, Brian and co wrote the song in late 1986, which suggests at least some keyboards could come from that era. If he recorded MIDI's, then he probably just changed some stuff here and there but the original take(s) of the digital piano (that remain in the 1995 version) would come from '86, not '88. As for Freddie's voice, there's a mystery... apparently, 'The Miracle' sessions went from January 1988 to January 1989, but who's to say they didn't try the song before or after that? Moreover, liner notes are often incomplete or incorrect (check 'Flash Gordon', for instance, or even 'A Kind of Magic'). I'm not saying it was not in 1988, I'm just entertaining the idea that it may have come previously. We'll probably never know. |
rhyeking 18.10.2010 10:32 |
Of course, and I agree, there is a lot of room for possibilities. My best guess is still just a guess, though I try to make it the best educated guess I can. And I post my "conclusions" here with the intention of opening exactly this kind of dialogue. Thanks, too, for narrowing the details of the other songs. |
john bodega 18.10.2010 12:57 |
It's been said (or implied?) that Brian was unhappy with the progress that they'd made without him, and basically they started it from scratch? |
rhyeking 18.10.2010 15:15 |
I heard and read a few similar things, Z, which I account for in noting that RT and JD started, but no real progress happened until BM finished the BTTL tour. (Sorry for all the acronyms). Also, I'm combing my notes trying to find where I got the June to Sept dates for the recording of Shove It. I want to say I got it from a long, detailed article about the formation and recording by The Cross (I did read such an article, no doubt there), but I can't find the article online now. What's curious, if the August to Dec. dates are accurate, is that the band were releasing songs ("Cowboys And Indians" and "Love Lies Bleeding" Sept. 9th 1987) and doing TV appearances ( Meltdown TV show, Nov. 6th 1987, where they play 5 songs from the Shove It album) all while still recording the actual album, which is fairly uncommon (though Queen sort of did the same thing while recording The Game, so there's that...) |
strangefrontier 18.10.2010 18:33 |
I have a magazine article somewhere which interviews Brian regarding the Made in Heaven recording sessions. He was far from happy at what Roger and John had started and basically they started again in a new direction. I will try to find out the article if interested?? |
rhyeking 18.10.2010 19:31 |
Sure, if you can find it, i'd love to read it. I know I've read similar statements few different times. |
silver_salmon 18.10.2010 23:14 |
Was Freddie recording with The Cross, HFE?, For me shove it vocals cames from A Kind Of Magic sessions, Roger and friends then recorded their instruments |
Sebastian 19.10.2010 00:14 |
Roger's comments for AG: I was making a solo album, I think it was actually an album with my band The Cross. And Freddie came down to visit in the studio and he loved the song and he said, 'oh God, you’ve got to let me sing that.' So he sang it and we got through a bottle of vodka, I think. And then eventually I think we, Brian and I, we replaced a lot of it and we rerecorded it so it had rather a long birth – a long and difficult birth. Freddie does an amazing job on the vocal, I think. Originally, I had sung this and when you then get Freddie Mercury to sing something you’ve sung you just realise your limits and how much further he could take something vocally. |
FriedChicken 21.10.2010 16:37 |
As for Let Me Live. Did anyone ever see or hear confirmation that it was tried in 1983 with Rod Stewart. I know they recorded together (there's evidence in the form of pictures). But I never heard confirmation that it was Let me Live they recorded. It could be that someone has been telling porkies a long time ago, and everyone accepted it as the truth. (Like Play the Game with Andrew Gibb) |
paulosham 21.10.2010 18:58 |
the original version of Piece Of My Heart link |
rhyeking 22.10.2010 00:11 |
Interesting. I knew it was Erma Franklin (Aretha's sister, I believe), but I'd never bothered to track down the original. I still prefer Janis's vocal on the BB&THC version. She sings as if her soul depends on it, with such heartbreak and pain, where Franklin's vocal seems to be about how strong she is without her man, despite the pain. Frankly (no pun intended), I can relate more to the pain of hearbreak than the triumph of will. Sometimes you just gotta sing the blues! Also, I'm not entirely convinced Queen took the vocal out because of it's similarity (unless there's a statement to that effect from someone in Queen or QP) to the BB&THC version, because saying the performance of a line, in a song unrelated to the song another band covered, sounds like a line in said covered song, seems a pretty thin bit of reasoning. Add to that the fact that I don't think you can copyright a *performance* (such as HOW one sings a song...you obviously CAN copyright a recording of a performance), what could Queen have been afraid of in including that vocal track? Reprisals from the original writers? Again, I'm not so sure. Consider how many lines in songs sound like lines in other songs. I know I hear plenty in a given day. Narrowing it to Queen, well heck, here are a few from Roger: "Everybody hurts sometimes..." REM: "Everybody hurts sometimes." (they even share nearly identical titles) "Cos when you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are..." Disney: "When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are..." (If anyone had the audacity to go after someone making money off The Mouse (or in this case Jiminey Cricket), it's freakin' Disney...they go after daycares for painting their characters on the wall without shelling out some $, they'd have no qualms about going after a rich rock star!) So, why take it out? Maybe the lawyers told them to play it safe...or they themselves didn't want the similarities to take away from their song, not worrying about any legal reason, but looking at artistic ones. |
Sebastian 22.10.2010 07:10 |
Regarding Let Me Live: AFAIK, it was confirmed by Phoebe. Regarding Play the Game: One of the fan club mags from that era specifically mentions Andy having recorded (backing) vocals on a (n at the moment) untitled song by Freddie. Based on that information only, it could've been PTG or DTS (CLTCL had been done over six months earlier and the cited info's about early 1980 sessions) or a song that didn't make it to the album. |
rhyeking 22.10.2010 11:29 |
Seb, on your site you note that The Works was planned to have a different track listing, including "Man Of Fire" and "Man-Made Paradise" Do you have the exact alternate listing? I'd love to know track by track what the order was going to be. Also, where did you find out this info, was it discussed at a convention by QP? |
joesilvey 22.10.2010 11:34 |
I thought someone (Peter Freestone, maybe?) had found a cassette jacket - no tape - in a shoebox that had the alternate track listing on it. pretty sure it was on a thread here somewhere... |
Sebastian 22.10.2010 12:13 |
IIRC, the tracklist was on Ratty's gallery. |
rhyeking 22.10.2010 13:14 |
Do we know what the full list was? Can you list it here? |
joesilvey 22.10.2010 13:27 |
original thread here: link track listing: Tear It Up Whipping Boy (early working name for I Go Crazy?") I Want To Break Free Machine Man On Fire Take Another Little Piece of My Heart It's a Hard Life Your Heart Again Man On The Prowl Radio Caca (yes that's how it was written) Hammer to Fall Kepp Passing the Open windows Man Made Paradise |
Benn 22.10.2010 13:49 |
And that version of "The Works" would have been F A R more preferable to the poppy shite we were eventually burdened with - heavier and more exciting a listen in the way that any rock band's "comeback" album should be. |
beautifulsoup 22.10.2010 16:30 |
Zebonka12 wrote: It's been said (or implied?) that Brian was unhappy with the progress that they'd made without him, and basically they started it from scratch? *********************************** Heh. I wouldn't be surprised! |
*goodco* 22.10.2010 20:27 |
When rhyeking and others discuss different track listings, it gets interesting (Jazz, Hot Space, etc...) This, I found, FASCINATING (and close to what I made 'The Works' in to) thanks a plenty |